Blog Archives

On June 10, 2017 we’ll perform for our fourth year in a row at All Balboa Weekend! It is always an honor to be invited to perform at this long-running Balboa event that is home to what is essentially the world championships of Balboa. Our friends Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders are performing on Friday night and we’ll be the Saturday night band. We’ve also got a special surprise for you with guest vocalist Nick Williams, so don’t miss a moment of the live music at ABW!

We’re excited to share with you the wonderful photographs New York photographer, dancer, DJ, and podcast host Ryan Swift took of the Mint Julep Jazz Band performing at Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing! He was limited to the press area and public areas in terms of where he could take photographs and we think he did an amazing job, even with these limitations. Here are a few of our favorites below and you can see the entire set on his Flickr page.

On Sunday, October 2, the Mint Julep Jazz Band will be performing on the main stage at Chapel Hill’s Festifall Arts Festival! Come dance, check out all the great vendors, artists, bands, and food trucks, and enjoy the fall weather with us. The festival is free and the band plays a set on the main stage (near the Franklin Hotel) from 1:55 p.m. to 2:55 p.m.

When the North Carolina Museum of Art reached out to us about performing at their Art Deco car exhibit, the response was a resounding yes – 30’s and 40’s machines of beauty plus music from the same era? Yes, please!

We’ll be opening the Rolling Sculpture: Art Deco Cars from the 1930s and ’40s exhibit with a soiree on September 29 featuring food, cocktails, and hot jazz amongst the rolling sculptures featured in the exhibit. Band plays from 6:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This is the first of many cool events surrounding this exhibit, check out the NCMA Rolling Sculpture exhibit webpage to see what’s in store in the coming months!

Graphics we can only assume were created by the event mastermind, Erica Vess

If you like your Balboa events peppered with cats with laser beam eyes, dinosaurs, world-class instruction, and lots of foodie restaurants, join us for a fun, nerdy weekend of Balboa dancing and instruction at I Heart Balboa in Richmond, Virginia. The event runs September 2-4, 2016 and we’ll be performing at the Saturday night dance on September 3, 2016 – we are excited to be back to perform for their second year!

We are honored to be asked by Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation to be a part of the Bearden Music Series again this year, after having a fantastic turnout at last year’s outdoor concert. We’ll be performing a free concert on July 9, 2016 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Bearden Park, a lovely outdoor space admidst the tall buildings of uptown Charlotte.

Bring a lawn chair or blanket and some summer eats (or pick up dinner from one of the food trucks) and relax under the sunset and stars during the concert, or take advantage of the dance floor and a free swing dance lesson by Gottaswing Charlotte on the first band break.

We are beyond excited to announce that the Mint Julep Jazz Band will be performing at Lincoln Center in New York as a part of their Midsummer Night Swing concert series! Join us on June 24, 2016 under the stars for a night of swing music in the Big Apple!

The concert series, which runs from June 21 through July 9, 2016, features live music of the dancing variety, with a big dance floor set up in front of the Lincoln Center bandshell at Damrosch Park – artists joining us in this series include Catherine Russell, Septeto Santiaguero, the Allen Toussaint Band, and many other wonderful artists from New York and beyond!

From the Midsummer Night Swing website: “This North Carolina–based “little” big band’s goal is simple: to keep you on the dance floor. Specializing in the great swing tunes of the ’30s, the eight-piece band has been tearing through the Lindy hop competition circuit, leaving masses of new fans in its wake. Sweet and refreshing with an intoxicating kick, the band makes its highly anticipated New York debut at Midsummer Night Swing.”

The Edward C. Smith Civic Center, a wonderful theater in Lexington, NC built in 1948, is hosting the Mint Julep Jazz Band for a rare theater concert on April 30, 2016. We’ll have a special program for this evening and we hope you will join us for a night of swing music, past and present! For more information, visit the theater website at http://www.smithciviccenter.org/ and get your tickets in advance by calling the theater box office at 336.249.7875. $20 for adults and $15 for students, and the theater is also offering a group rate for groups of 6 or more.

There will be a dance floor in the theater for those who might like to dance during the performance and there will also be a bunch of plush theater seats, if that’s your bag. And how about that stage? Fit for an MGM musical – see you soon!

We are back for a second year at the Grand Taste Experience at the Durham Armory, hosted by Taste The Event 2016, which is also hosting a series of wonderful events kicking off with the this event on April 21, 2016 and continuing through the weekend! We’d love for you to join us, but this event is sold out! Make plans to attend next year, this event is touted as the “culinary experience of the year” and allows you to “spend the evening with hundreds of guests savoring dishes created by 30 of the best chefs in North Carolina. Also on hand are local beverage makers, producing outstanding craft beer, soda, coffees and spirits. And we’ve rounded up our chefs’ favorite distributors to bring you wine from around the world to educate your palate.” It is essentially the most delicious, fanciest, foodiest all you can eat buffet you’ll encounter in the Triangle!

Durhamites, be sure to pick up a copy of the April, 2016 issue of Durham Magazine for a feature on the Mint Julep Jazz Band! Durham Magazine writer Sophia Lucente interviewed Laura Windley, Lucian Cobb, and Keenan McKenzie to put together this snapshot of the band’s history and life in Durham. You can read the article (as well as the entire issue) online here or read just the article in an online-friendly format here.